Home. On the Search for a Place Called Home

After a prolonged but temporary stay in London, essayist Daniel Schreiber slid into a state of melancholia that prompted him to question the concept of home. The feeling of belonging in a certain place suddenly seemed questionable. From this highly personal starting point, Schreiber explores universally relevant questions. Calling to mind writers such as Alain de Botton or Julian Baggini, he interweaves personal observations with references to a broad spectrum of philosophical, literary and psychological reflections. Schreiber concludes that his immersion in a foreign language – English – enabled him not only to distance himself from his past but also to adopt a different viewpoint towards himself. In an era of increased mobility, migration, multilingualism and internationalism, the yearning for a specific sense of belonging might seem outdated, but is still deeply rooted in our mindset.

In this short book, Schreiber tackles questions that concern all of us. As one of Germany’s most popular younger essayists exploring contemporary issues, he brings an international perspective to discussions of identity politics and nationalism.

Daniel Schreiber, born in 1977, writes art criticism and journalism for various international newspapers and magazines. His biography of Susan Sontag (2014) has been translated into several languages. His highly acclaimed personal essay 'Sober' (2014), was a bestseller. Daniel Schreiber lives in Berlin.

Carl Hanser Verlag was established by its eponymous owner in 1928 in Munich, and its founder’s interests in both literature and science have been maintained to the present day. The firm publishes fiction and non-fiction for both adults and children. Its authors include Italo Calvino, Umberto Eco, Jostein Gaarder, Lars Gustafsson, Milan Kundera, Harry Mulisch, Philip Roth, Susan Sontag, Botho Strauß, Raoul Schrott, Rafik Schami, Alfred Brendel, Elke Heidenreich and ten Nobel prizewinners, among them Elias Canetti, whose works have been translated into more than thirty different languages.